Franchini v. Bd. of Registration in Podiatry

490 Mass. 1015

195 N.E.3d 420

Thomas C. FRANCHINI

v.BOARD OF REGISTRATION IN PODIATRY.

SJC-13226

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

October 6, 2022

The case was submitted on briefs.

Thomas C. Franchini, pro se.

LaRonica K. Lightfoot, Assistant Attorney General, for the respondent.

RESCRIPT

The petitioner, Thomas C. Franchini, appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court affirming a decision of the Board of Registration in Podiatry that revoked Franchini's license to practice podiatry in Massachusetts. We affirm.

Prior proceedings. In January 2018, the board issued an order to show cause, alleging that an application for licensure submitted by Franchini to the board, dated November 8, 2016 (application) contained knowingly false or incomplete and misleading responses to certain questions, in violation of various statutory and regulatory provisions, and directing Franchini to show cause why his license should not be suspended, revoked, or otherwise subject to disciplinary sanctions.

Franchini responded to the order to show cause, arguing that the responses at issue either were technically accurate, or where inaccurate, were made inadvertently, without any intent to deceive. In October 2018, prosecuting counsel for the division of professional licensure filed a motion requesting that the administrative hearings officer issue a partial summary decision. Franchini opposed the motion.

In April 2019, the hearings officer issued a decision on the motion for summary disposition, granting the motion with respect to the allegations that Franchini had engaged in gross misconduct by virtue of statements on his licensure application that were untrue, incomplete, and misleading, but determining that additional factfinding was necessary with respect to allegations that Franchini should be disciplined for engaging in fraud, deceit, or knowingly making false statements. An evidentiary hearing was held in June 2019. At that hearing the parties entered into a series of stipulations establishing that Franchini had actual knowledge as to the false or misleading nature of certain responses provided in his licensure application. As a result, the evidentiary hearing was converted into a hearing solely on the issue of sanctions.

The hearings officer issued a tentative decision in December 2019, finding that Franchini knowingly made certain false and misleading statements in his licensure application and recommending that the board impose disciplinary sanctions. Franchini filed objections to the tentative decision. In April 2020, the board issued its findings of fact, rulings of law, and order (decision), largely adopting the hearing officer's tentative decision, with only minor corrections and revisions. More specifically, the board found that Franchini committed the following disciplinary violations: "gross misconduct of such a nature so as to call into question [Franchini's] ability to practice podiatry, G. L. c. 112, § 61, ¶ 2(1), dishonesty, fraud, or deceit reasonably related to the practice of podiatry, G. L. c. 112, § 61, ¶ 2(5), and knowingly making false statements in his application to the board. G. L. c. 112, § 18." Franchini now appeals.

Summary of relevant facts. The following facts are drawn from the board's April 2020 decision and supplemented by undisputed facts from the record.

It is undisputed that Franchini submitted the application at issue to the board, declaring "under the pains and penalties of perjury" that his that his responses were "truthful and accurate" and affirming his understanding that "the failure to provide accurate information may be grounds for the [board] to deny, suspend, or revoke" a license issued pursuant to the application.

Among other things, the application required, in Section C, that Franchini list "all professional licenses/certificates" held in the U.S. or any foreign country and to arrange for each issuing jurisdiction "to send verification of licensure status, either current or expired ...." Further explanatory language in the margin of the application indicates that Section C applies to "persons who have ever or currently hold licenses," and Section C includes a grid with blank spaces for applicants to enter the requested information, including columns in which to indicate whether a license is "current," "lapsed," "revoked/suspended," or subject to "probation." In this section, Franchini listed three licenses, issued by the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, respectively. The board found that Franchini's response was incomplete, misleading, and knowingly made, as Franchini had also been licensed in Vermont, Maine, and the District of Columbia.

The application further required Franchini to indicate whether any "disciplinary, termination, or restrictive action ... [had been] taken against [him] within the past ten years by a ... Professional Association or Organization Hospital," and if so, to attach an explanation to the application. Franchini responded in the negative. The board concluded that this statement was false because Franchini's privileges to practice podiatry were summarily suspended by the United States Department of Veteran's Affairs, VA Maine Healthcare System by correspondence dated April 28, 2010, due to concerns "raised to suggest that aspects of [Franchini's] clinical practice do not meet the accepted standards of practice and potentially...